Thugs threaten pregnant partner of missing man

THE FAMILY home of missing Tallaght man Paul Byrne and that of his heavily pregnant partner were attacked by thugs threatening to burn them from their houses and claiming his body will never be found.

Paul (21) vanished after getting into a car outside his Tallaght home in Kilmartin Green on Wednesday July 15 last.

His distraught partner Martina is shortly due to give birth to their second child, conceived just before he vanished.

Paul's family are convinced he was murdered and his body dumped somewhere, as no trace of him was ever found.

This week, they waited anxiously for word on the identity of the remains found in the Dublin Mountains on Sunday.

Sickening

However, their hopes of retrieving his body were dashed after the remains were found to be those of Ken Fetherston.

Their hell has now been compounded by the sickening attack on their homes in the early hours of the morning.

"It was around 1.20am when they came, and started banging and kicking at the door," Paul's mother Ashley told the Herald.

"They were shouting 'open the door' and 'IRA', it was frightening, we couldn't believe it," she added.

Last week a group claiming to be the Real IRA contacted the Herald claiming to know who killed Paul, and threatening retaliation unless the location of his remains are made known to his family.

"There just seems to be no end to this. It's bad enough dealing with not knowing where Paul is without this grief," she said speaking of Monday night's attack.

After kicking at Ashley's door the gang then ran across the road and used the same tactics on the home of his pregnant partner Martina McQuillan.

"We were petrified. They are just sick," said Martina's mother Sharon. "They were shouting 'open the door' and 'you'll never get his body back',"

Martina told the Herald: "When a neighbour begged them to go away they said they would be back with petrol," she said. "I was upstairs fast asleep, I got the shock of my life."

Martina is due to have Paul's second child in just two weeks, and is taking care of their first baby, Abbey, who is almost two years old.

"There was two of them outside, one who stayed in a car while the other one was doing all the kicking and shouting," Martina explained.

Gardai have taken a car from the McQuillans' driveway for forensic analysis after the thugs left a footprint on it.

cfeehan@herald.ie

- Conor Feehan

Oh my God how awful! As if she doesn't have enough to deal with!